Uganda is one of those countries that have embraced tourism as one of the vehicle driving the economy. Tourism contributes a large share in the export earning of the country and coffee being one of the Uganda’s best export, the government is trying to integrate the two items to attract a large number of tourists into the country. Coffee is one of those things that has made Uganda recognizable on the globe, many people out there would like to encounter the whole process of making the amazing coffee that comes from Uganda.
Uganda is making efforts on developing of its coffee tourism offerings and this has been validated by the first organization of the coffee and tourism symposium that occurred last year in December in Kampala.
The symposium was organized under the theme “unlocking Uganda’s Coffee Tourism Potential”. The stakeholders in the tourism and coffee industry came together at this conference to talks about how the potential and gains in both industries can be promoted.
Coffee tourism involves consumers touring the coffee farms as commentaries of how coffee is grown are passed onto them by the farmers and then get to the factories where the coffee beans are processed into the powder that consumed as the beverage and at the end of the experience the tourists test the coffee at the cafeteria. In context the coffee tourism involves connecting the coffee farms to consumers under a farm-to-cup approach.
The former boss of Uganda tourism board, Stephen Asiimwe said that they were planning on making coffee tourism viable by ensuring that all the tourism amenities in terms of transport and accommodation are to be brought near the coffee fields. The on-farm encounters will lead to the rise retributions as both the tourism sector and farmers accumulate recognition and prosperity due to international exposure”.
The coffee tourism has already been embraced by some tour operators in Uganda in the past few years. These have been integrating the common tour package of wildlife and cultural with agro tours in the coffee farms that are found in fort portal, Kampala and the Eastern Uganda around the Sipi falls and Mt. Elgon. The tourists who have engaged in this expedition have had profound insights on Uganda’s robasta and Arabica coffee and they have done from the farm to the cup. The good result about the short coffee experience the tourists have had in Uganda is they are really enjoyed and learnt and also Uganda has gained since the tourists have extended their stays or safari and thus the country earning more from forex.
The symposium aimed to inspire more coffee farmers to offer these types of experiences that can be marketed to visitors seeking to explore Uganda beyond its wildlife.
